Box-flap-cutting mechanism



Jul 28, 1925."

E. A. METZ ET AL BOX FLAP CUTTING MECHANISM Filed July 5, 1924 2 SheetSSbeet 1 6.10: neg

' July 28, 1925. 1,547, 02

E. A. METZ ET AL BOX FLAP CUTTING MECHANISM Filed July 5, 1924 2Sheets-Sheet 2 f f 11? I 2 /l Patented July 28, 1925.

UNITED ELLWOOD A. TJIETZ AND TH'QIYIASS. FITOHE'IT, 0F GLENAB/IVI,MARYLAND, 'ASSIG'NORS' P QLFF 5 T0 F. x. HOOPER COMPANY,onGLENAam'MARYI-Ann, A oonronerion Osman-Y LAND.

BOX-.FLAP-CUTTING MECHANISM.

Application filed July 5 To all whom it may, concern! Be it known thatwe, ELLWOOD A. Mnrz and; THOMAS, S. Fironn'rr, citizens of the UnitedStates, residing at Glena-rm, in-the county of Baltimore. and State ofMaryland, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inB0x-Flap-Cutting Mechanism, of which the following is a specification,

This invention relates to mechanism for, cutting the flaps. of boxblanks, and also for scoring the blanks. The invention. is shownas anattachment to apress for printng-upon 11. 1 n s, w re y he anks. may beprinted, scored, and have their flaps cut during their passage throughthe press. The attachment may, however, be used separately from thepress, when provided, with suitable feeding mechanism.

In carrying out the invention, we pro-. vide parallel shafts carryingheads upon which are mounted the knives for cutting the flaps, and theseshafts. also carry heads having scoring segments for scoring the blanks.Through suitable gearing, these shafts. are timed to the movements, ofthe shaftscarrying the printing cylinders, and as the blanks leavev theprinting cylinders they are carried between the pairs of scor-v ing. andcutting heads, where the-blanks are scored and their alternate flaps;are cut. The, knives for cutting off the flaps arranged upon pairs ofheads at opposite sides of the attachment. One head of each pair carriestwo relatively short segmental knives which, in practice, have, two oftheir adjacent ends spaced apart circu nferentially a distancesubstantially equal to thelength of a, flap on the box blank which is tobe left uncut, and the other head carries a relatively long segmentalknife' Which is adapted, to overlap the other knives and to co-operatetherewith in cutting thefljaps, one end of; therela'tive-ly, long knife,in the. practical operation of:

v the machine, being circumferentially spaced from the end; of one ofthe shorter knives, when the latter is. at the cutting point, a distanceequal to the length of; a flapwhich is. to, be cut. Thus arranged, theknives.

1924,, s a NO- 72.4. 94.-

Will. cut: h a rnate flaps witho t cutting: n er diatefi ps, Thekni esar aljustable about their. axes and, by suitablysetting the knives,fiapsof various lengths may be cut, and; the first andthird;,;0r thesecond and fourth flaps. may be out, as desired. A

In the accompanying drawing, Fig. l; is a side. elevation ofgpart of aprinting press a-ndthe flap cutting and scoring attachment;

Fig. 2 is an end view of, the same, looking from right to left in, Fig.1, parts being, oken a y;

F g, 3 is a e a l V e sh ing part; at a utter he d, a. kn ev nd the;lamping means for the knife, in section; I

g- 4 is. a d agrammatic View illustrating the arrangement of the kniveson the cutter heads. foncutting the first and third flaps of ab an Fig.5is a. planview. of ablank showing, in dotted lines, the. cuts. made by,the knives when adjusted asin F ig. 4L; I I Fig, 6 is, a diagrammaticviewill'ustrating the arrangement of thevknives on the cutter heads forcutting. the second and fourth flaps-of a, blank; and, p

Fig. 7' is a .plan View of a; blankv showing, in. dotted} lines, the.cutsv made. by the knives when adjusted as in- Fig- 6.

Referring tohthe. drawing, a represents the frameof afprinting pressforprinting on sheets. of stiff mateniahsuch. as strawboand, fiber, andthe. like, one of the printing cylinders being indicated at b, and animpression, cylinder being indicatediat 0. The sheets to, be printed.upon, such. as. box blanks, are fed to the'press by'suitablefeedingmechanism, not shown, and are carried along from left to right, in Fig.1, onthe bed 1 of the press, by pull rollers, and after. the impressionsare made upon the blanksby the printingorform cylinders, theyl are.carried by pull rollers to the flap cuttingv and: off-set scoringdevices. which. are mounted on. shafts 2 and 3. These shafts are.suitably mounted on a framev d, which is; arranged; at the delivery endof; the printing press. The pull rollers 39, which are mounted on shafts4 and 5 of the printing press, pass the blanks along to the pull rollersp on shafts 6 and 7 on the frame d, and these pass the planks to thepull rollers 29 on shafts 8 and 9, from whence the blanks are passed toa delivery belt 6. The power for operating the press is applied througha pulley 10 to a shaft 10, having a gear 11 which meshes with a gear 12on a shaft 13, which carries the impression cylinder 0. Uponthis shaft,at the opposite side of the machine from that shown in the drawing, is agear 14 which meshes with a large idle gear 15, and the latter mesheswith a large gear 16. The gear 16 engages a large gear 17 on a shaft 18,which carries the form'cylinder Z2, and it also meshes witha gear 19 ofthe same diameter as the gear 17, this gear 19 being secured to theshaft 2 which carries the upper cutter and scoring heads. The gear 19engages a gear 20 which, in turn, engages a gear 21, and the gear 21engagesa gear 22 on the shaft 3, which carries the lower cutter andscoring heads. The shafts 2 and 3, which carry the cutter and scoringheads, are geared to turn at the same speed as the shaft 18, carryingthe form cylinder. The various pull rollers may be; geared in anysuitable way to the driving shaft. As shown, the pull rollershafts 4 and5 011- the press frame are driven through gears on said frame asfollows: The pull roller 5 is operated from the driving shaft 10,through gears 23, 24 and 25'; the pull roller shaft 4 is operated fromthe gear 24, through gears 26, 27, 28, and 29. The pull roller shafts 6,7, 8, and 9 011 the framed of the cutting and scoring attachment areoper ate-d from a gear 22 on the shaft 3. As shown, the pull roller 7isoperated from the gear 22, through gears and 31, and the pullroller'shaft 6 is operated from gear 23, through gears 30, 32 and 33. VThe pull roller shaft 9 is operated fronr gear 22, through gear 34.meshing therewith, which gear is mounted upon a stud 35, and secured tothe gear 34fis a larger gear 36, which meshes withgear 37 on the shaft9. A gear 38, engagingthe gear 36, drives a gear 39 which, in turn,drives a gear 40 which meshes with a gear 41 on thevpull roller shaft 8.Thus, the various pull rollers are driven in unison. t 1

Upon the shaft 2 are mounted circular heads'or wheels fif, which carrysegmental offset scorin members 42 a'da ted to co operate with scoringrings or members on similarheads g, g, mounted'upon the shaft 3. Thesescoring members need not be particularly described, as they are Wellknown. At the sides of the scoring heads f, f, are

7 heads h, h, each of which carries two rela tively short segmentalcutters, .indicated at 43 and 44. Upon the lower shaft 3 are arrangedcutter heads 7', j, each of which carries a relatively long segmentalcutter 45, arranged in shearing relation to' the cutters on the heads h,it, and adapted to co-operate with the latter cutters in cutting off thealternate flaps of the box blanks as they pass between the cutter heads.

The knives are adjustably mounted in grooves 46 in the cutter heads. Asshown in the detail View Fig. 3, theknife 45 is arranged within a groove46 which is formed by a flange 47 on the head hand a clamping ring 48which is secured to said head and opposed to said flange. Each cutterhas a longitudinal recess 49 on one side, and a suitable number ofclamping screws 50 extend through the ring 48 and into the adjacentrecess 49 in the cutter, and

when these screws are tightened, the knife or cutter is held firmly inplace. To adjust the. cutter circumferentially about the head, thescrews 50 may be loosened, and the knife or cutter may then be slidaround in the groove 46 to any desiredposition of adjustment and thenclamped by tightening the screws. y f 1 l The box-blanks h, Fig. 5,aretransversely slotted, as shown at 51,52, and 53, before they are fedinto the printingpress, and they pass endwise through thepress and areprinted upon and then pass between the upper and lower scoring andcutting devices. If the blanks pass between these devices in thedirection of the arrow, Fig. 4, and it is desired to cut off the ends ofthe first and third flaps '56 and 58 of the blank, the knives 44 on thecutter heads will be set so that their rear ends 44 will be in linewiththe axes of the shafts 2 and 3 when the slots 51 in the blank are onthis same line. The forward ends 43 of the knives 43 will be spaced fromthe ends44 of the knives 44 adistance equal to the distance between thecenters of the slots 51 and 52, and the knives 45 will be set so thatwhen the ends 43? of the knives 43 meat the cutting point, in line withthe axes of the shafts 2 and 3, the rear ends 45 of the knives 45 willbespacedciroumferentially a distance from the ends 43 equal to thedistance between the centers of the slots 52 and 53 in the blank. The

several knlves are preset to suit the cutting of the blanks by the aidof suitable'graduation marks on the heads.

With the knives arranged as shown in Fig. 4,when the blank k is fed inthe direction of the arrow, the fiaps56 will be engaged by theforwardorl'eading parts of the knives 44 and 45 and the ends of the flaps56fwill be out off along the dotted lines to. Thiscutting operation willcease when the ends 44 of the knives 44 reaches the line joining theaxes of the shafts 2 and 3, at which time the slots 51 will be on saidline. As there is -a gap between the ends 44 and 43 'of the knives onthe upper heads, only the lower knife will engage the blank while theflaps 57 are passing the cutting point and therefore these flaps willnot be cut. The ends 43* of the knives 43 will be at the line joiningthe axes of the shafts 2 and 3 when the slots 52 are on said line, andthe knives 43 and 45 will then cut flaps 58 until the rear ends 45 ofthe knives 45 reach the line joining the axes of the shafts 2 and 3, atwhich time the slots 53 will also be at said line and the cuttingoperation will cease. As only the knives 43 will be in engagement withthe blank when the flaps 59 are passing the cutting point, these flapswill not be cut.

If, instead of cutting the first and third flaps on the blank, it isdesired to cut the second and fourth, the knives will be adjusted asillustrated in Fig. 6; that is, the knives 43 and 44 will have theirends 43 and 44 spaced apart a distance equal to the width of the flapswhich are not to be out, and the leading ends 45 of the knives 45 willbe arranged to overlap the rear ends 44 of the knives 44 by a distanceequal to the width of the flaps which are to be out. With thisarrangement of the knives and proper timing of the feeding mechanism ofthe blank, when the first flaps 60 of the blank,

Fig. 7, are passed between the cutting heads,

only the leading portions of the knives 44 will engage the blank andthese flaps will not be cut off. The leading ends 45 of the knives 45will then engage intermediate parts of the knives 44 and the knives willbe in cutting engagement while the flaps 61 are passing between theheads and these flaps will be cut off along the dotted lines :20. lVhilethe flaps 62 are passing between the heads, they will be engaged only bythe knives 45 and will not be cut. When the flaps 63 are passing betweenthe heads, the leading ends 43 of the knives 43 will engage the knives45 at the slots 51 and these flaps will be out along the dotted lines m,(Fig. 7).

It will be evident that by adjusting the knives on the heads itrelatively to one another, and by adjusting the knives 45 on the headsrelatively to the knives on the heads h, the knives may be arranged tocut off flaps of various lengths and the knives may be caused to operatesuccessively on the first and third flaps of a blank, or upon the secondand fourth flaps, as desired.

For convenience in setting the knives to cut the flaps, the heads onwhich the knives are mounted are, in practice, provided with graduationmarks (not shown), so that the ends of the knives can be preset to cutalternate flaps of any given length.

As the blanks pass through the attachment, the scoring members'willeffect off-set scoring, as indicated at y on the blanks.

By arranging the scoring and flap-cutting attachment at the delivery endof a press, and tllillngtllfi movements o'f the'scoring-and cuttingmembers to the movement of the printing cylinder or cylinders, a largesaving in labor is effected, as the blanks do not have to be re-handledbefore being scored and out.

What we claim is:

1. A machine for cutting the flaps of box blanks comprising two cutterheads geared to operate in unison, one having two relatively shortspaced segmental knives, and the other having a relatively longsegmental knife adapted to overlap both of said short knives.

2. A machine for cutting the flaps of box blanks comprising two cutterheads geared to operate in unison, one having two relatively shortspaced segmental knives, and the other having a relatively longsegmental knife adapted to overlap both of said short knives, saidrelatively long knife being adjustable about its axis to vary itsrelation to said other knives.

3. A machine for cutting the flaps of box blanks comprising two cutterheads geared to operate in unison, one having two relatively shortspaced segmental knives adjustable about their axis relatively to oneanother, and the other having a relatively long segmental knife adaptedto overlap both of said short knives.

4. A machine for cutting the flaps of box blanks comprising two cutterheads geared to operate in unison, one having two relatively shortspaced segmental knives adjustable about their axis relatively to oneanother, and the other having a relatively long segmental knife adaptedto overlap both of said short knives and adjustable about its axis tovary its relation to said latter knives.

5. A machine for cutting the flaps of box blanks comprising two cutterheads geared to operate in unison, one having two relatively shortsegmental knives, the ends of which are spaced apart circumferentiallyof the head a distance equal to the length of a flap which is not to becut, and the other having a relatively long segmental knife adapted tooverlap said short knives and having one of its ends circumferentiallyspaced from an end of one of said shorter knives, when the latter is atthe cutting point, a distance equal to the length of a flap which is tobe cut.

6. A machine for cutting the flaps of box blanks comprising two cutterheads geared to operate in unison, one having two relatively shortsegmental knives, the ends of which are spaced apart circumferentiallyof the head a distance equal to the length of a flap which is not to becut, and the other having a relatively long segmental knife justablerelatively to one another about the adapted to overlap said short knivesand axes of their respective heads. having one of it end i mfe ti ll Intestimony whereof We hereunto aflix our 10 spaced from an end of one ofsaid shorter slgnatures- 5 knives, When the latter is at the cuttingpoint, a distance equal to the length of a fla whic his to be cut, saidknives being a ELLWOOD A; METZ. THOS. S. FITOHETT.

